The Love Triangle: A Corpse Bride Essay
by HAFanForever
Summary: I love Corpse Bride, and I want to offer my explanations on why Victor and Victoria are meant to be rather than Victor and Emily. This is a present for my dear friend Cris.P.C, who also loves the film and VictorxVictoria. (A/N: Please do not leave hate comments on this essay if you prefer VictorxEmily!)


**A/N: I absolutely adore **_**Corpse Bride**_** and Emily's character. However, I do not ship her with Victor, even though they have some good moments together, because I honestly see more reasons why Victor belongs with Victoria. So if you love VictorxEmily and/or strongly dislike Victoria, please, please, PLEASE do not bash me or what I have to say in this essay! We all have our likes, dislikes, agreements, and disagreements, but I can't stand it when those cause big fights, especially over something like this, because they are meant to be entertaining for us. I'm sure you hate hearing hate talk over characters that you like that some people do not, so do not do it to people who like characters that you don't like.**

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**Introduction**

Animation is the one film genre that I loved as a child and still do today. Nearly all movies I have seen in my lifetime are those from Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks. I grew up during the time of the Disney Renaissance, so I saw many of the Disney films during that period, along with when Pixar introduced _Toy Story_ as the world's first computer animated feature film. I feel that animation has fascinated me for years because I always considered it a very unique form of art. It interests me a great deal on just how people manage to bring hand-drawn, and now computer graphic, characters to life as if they truly were real people acting in a film. Although I still like traditional animation because I have many fond memories watching those kinds of films in my childhood, computer animation now seems to be the most popular type, and I have a strong affinity for that as well. I also have my share of love for stop-motion animated films, with the firsts I ever saw being the _Wallace and Gromit_ shorts.

Of the three original shorts, I first saw _The Wrong Trousers_, which is my favorite out of all of them, when I was six years old. Noticing how the characters had an appearance of clay, I immediately developed a fascination with this type of animation and how characters like these were seemingly brought to life like those in traditional and computer animated films. The first stop-motion animated feature I ever saw was _The Nightmare Before Christmas_, but back then I had no idea it was the same kind of animation as _Wallace and Gromit_. Then when _Chicken Run_ came out, I immediately recognized that at as the same animation since they had the same clay appearances (which are plasticine figures, as I later learned). Since I was already a huge _Wallace and Gromit_ fan, I quickly enjoyed it, and was even more excited when they released _Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit_ five years later. Around the same time, another stop-motion animated film called _Corpse Bride_ came out. When I first saw the trailer for it, I instantly noticed that it was the same form of animation as _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. However, it would literally be years before I knew what this type of animation was called, and that _Wallace and Gromit_ and _Chicken Run_ were also the same kind. Tim Burton wrote the story for _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ and produced it, while _Corpse Bride_ was the first one he directed. I only saw _Corpse Bride_ once during the time that it was in theaters, and while I did enjoy it back then, I have a greater love for it now. Because Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors, I took the chance to see his next stop-motion animated feature _Frankenweenie_ last year.

Although I thought it was somewhat bizarre the first time I saw it, I now view _Corpse Bride_ as a very imaginative and beautiful love story, in which the main protagonist, Victor Van Dort, is caught in a love triangle between his arranged fiancée, Victoria Everglot, and a mysterious dead woman named Emily (who is the film's title character). Victor and Victoria are engaged to marry each other for social and financial reasons, and despite having never met before, they fall immediately in love upon their first meeting. Emily enters the picture after Victor practices his wedding vows in the woods where Emily's body is buried, and when he finishes, she rises from the grave under the belief that Victor has married her. Victor quickly realizes that his sudden "marriage" is a big misunderstanding and tries desperately to sort things out between both women. Over the course of the film, while Victor comes to realize that he truly is in love with Victoria and feels that he belongs with her, he also develops a fondness for Emily as well and wants to do whatever he can to make both of them happy.

Because she is the title character, Emily is viewed by fans as the true female lead in this film. Although Victoria is second to Emily as a female lead, her role in the film is also very prominent to the story. In my eyes, this appears to be one particular film in which the non-canonical pairing is more liked by fans than the canonical pairing. In other words, the VictorxEmily pairing is much more favored than the VictorxVictoria pairing. A few ideas I have is to why this is because most fans love Emily for her lively and passionate demeanor, while Victoria is far less lively, soft-spoken, and calmer. Not to mention Emily has more screen time than Victoria since she's the title character and she ends up spending a lot more time with Victor onscreen than Victoria does. Additionally, in most love stories for literature or film, the lead male character frequently ends up with the lead female character. Since this is one of those times where it doesn't happen, it may also explain why fans don't like Victoria and the way the film ends. While I love both female characters well, I'm one of those people who prefer Victor with Victoria. I don't dislike VictorxEmily, but I don't support the pairing, which is actually a lot in saying for me since there are non-canonical pairings of movies and TV shows that I absolutely despise. So in this essay, I will be explaining my reasons on why I love VictorxVictoria and provide interpretations for particular moments in the film, most especially the ending. To support all of that, I also will give the plot summary of the film and descriptions of the three main characters, including my own opinions on them.

I also want to take a moment to dedicate this essay to my dear friend Cristina (Cris.P.C), who is also a big lover of this film and of VictorxVictoria. I have told her about my plans to write this essay and she has long been looking forward to it. Hope you enjoy this, Cristina! :D

**Victor ****–**** The Shy Groom**

The main protagonist and lead male character of _Corpse Bride_ is Victor Van Dort, the son of wealthy fishmongers. Victor is a tall and thin young man with short, dark hair and pale skin. He is a very talented pianist and artist, the latter being seen at the start of the film when he draws a butterfly so well in detail. Very timid, shy, and clumsy, Victor is very easily startled and almost always wears an expression of worry or nervousness. He lacks confidence in himself and is not very social with other people. This and his extreme nervousness is especially shown when he first meets Victoria, as he stutters whenever he talks to her, and then when he tries to recite the wedding vows during the rehearsal, which he ultimately ruins. Despite these qualities, Victor is at heart a very decent person who is very kind, polite, and accepting to everyone he meets. When Victoria startles him as he plays the piano, he apologizes for knocking over the bench and picks it up. He also admits that he does not think her dream of marriage is silly and apologizes again after knocking over the vase on the piano.

After falling in love with Victoria, Victor begins to show more confidence as well as cunningness and bravery. Once in the deep part of the woods, he reminds himself of getting the vows right for Victoria and finally recites them perfectly without a single stumble or moment of hesitation. After conversing with Emily, he thinks up a plan to trick her into taking him back to the Land of the Living so he can reunite with Victoria (though Emily later discovers his lie and he apologizes to her for his deceit). Later, during his and Emily's wedding ceremony, when Barkis interrupts and tries to take Victoria away using a sword, Victor boldly stands up to him, despite being unarmed, then fights Barkis with a fork thrown to him by Mrs. Plum. Victor proves to be surprisingly competent at avoiding Barkis's thrusts, and even lands three separate hits on the man before being disarmed.

**Emily ****–**** The Corpse Bride**

The deuteragonist and main female character of _Corpse Bride_ is Emily, the film's title character. Very little is known about Emily's past, with the events that led up to her death being revealed in Bonejangles' song "Remains of the Day." When alive, Emily was quite a beauty who was born into an extremely wealthy family and grew up in the same village as Victor. When a mysterious man came into town, she quickly fell madly in love with him, but her father disapproved her suitor and wouldn't allow them to get married. So Emily and her lover secretly planned an elopement without her father knowing. (It is not mentioned if her mother was dead or alive or if she had any other family members before her own death.) One late night, she dressed up in her mother's wedding dress and veil, then fled into the forest where she waited for her fiancé to come so they could marry and start their lives together. However, her fiancé killed her when he arrived, and he also stole the money and jewels she had brought with her as her dowry. After waking up in the afterlife, Emily made a vow in which she decided to wait for another man (who happened to be Victor) to come and "set her free."

Emily is most distinguished by her physical appearance; despite being dead, she is a very beautiful woman. She has blue skin, like many of the other dead people, and her hair is also blue, long, and tangled. She wears a torn, dirty, sleeveless wedding dress that used to belong to her mother, a matching veil, and fingerless, elbow length gloves. There is also a small hole on her left cheek where some of her skin has decomposed. Her left arm and right leg are entirely skeletal, the skin having decayed to the bone. A couple of other features give some clues about how Emily died. She has a mark on her forehead that has the appearance of a bruise, implying that she was bashed there and that the trauma of the impact ultimately killed her. Also, part of her ribcage is visible underneath her right breast, suggesting that she was stabbed there and eventually bled to death from the wound.

Emily is also well-known for having a very lively personality. She is very often seen smiling and laughing, and she enjoys dancing, singing, and playing the piano. She is extremely kind-hearted, sweet, and, above all, a very loving person. But at the same time, she is far from flawless. Emily comes off as very naïve, ignorant, and misunderstanding during moments that should have been obvious to her. These include Victor being afraid of her when she first appears, how her "marriage" was unofficial since she was dead and Victor wasn't (part of this involves when Victor tries to explain that he wasn't supposed to be in the underworld by saying that he has to get home, and Emily simply tells him that the underworld is his "home" now), and that Victor was not going to come back to the woods after having been gone for so long. She also has a temper and gets jealous very easily, as seen when she finds Victor talking to Victoria instead of finding his parents like he said he would. Her reaction is to furiously drag Victor back to the Land of the Dead, then tearfully accuse him of cheating on her and claim that Victoria is the "other woman." Overall, her moods tend toward extremes – when she's happy, she's extremely joyful; when she's sad, she's extremely depressed, lingering in the depths of despair. But because she is so loving, Emily also forgives fairly quickly and easily. It doesn't take too long for her to forgive Victor after he comes to apologize for his deceit (especially when they play a piano duet together). Then later, her jealousy finally dissipates when she sees Victoria in the church and realizes that her chance to be a bride has come and gone, and that letting Victor kill himself to marry her (Emily) will only destroy Victoria's dreams the way hers were.

Of the four songs sung in the film, only two of them really give insight to Emily's character. Since "Remains of the Day" gives the story of how she died, it is useful in the film because it helps make her a sympathetic and loveable character, who only wants to love and be loved, rather than a frightening one as she seems to be when she makes her first appearance. Her jealousy towards Victoria is shown in "Tears to Shed," where she sings about how Victor might prefer Victoria over her simply because Victoria is living. Although she is still naïve and misunderstanding about her "marriage," the song still gives her sympathy in showing just how much lies and deception can break her heart.

**Victoria ****–**** The "Other Woman"**

Victoria Everglot, the daughter of hateful, penniless aristocrats, is the tritagonist and other major female character in the film. She is described by her parents as having the face "of an otter in disgrace," but she is actually a very pretty young woman. She is petite with light brown/grayish hair done up in a bun and has pale skin with rosy cheeks. Much like Victor, Victoria is very quiet, shy, and soft-spoken, and unlike her parents, she's a bit romantic and wants to marry for love. Because she is shy and very obedient to her parents, she rarely argues with them or stands up for herself, even when she is feeling miserable. Despite having parents who are very cold and unkind, Victoria herself is very kind and sweet. She is far less lively than Emily, showing happiness much more calmly, and does not smile or laugh as much as the latter, because with parents like hers, there isn't much to smile or laugh about in her life. She is noted for being the only person who shows sympathy, understanding, kindness, and patience towards Victor, especially when she compliments his piano playing and when he ruins the rehearsal, while their parents and Pastor Galswells all get mad at him.

Like Victor, Victoria shows her brave and determined side after falling in love with the former. After she sees him disappear with Emily, Victoria is no longer shy and demure and only becomes determined to help Victor. After her parents lock her in her room, she not only shows her bravery, but a streak of rebelliousness when she defies them for the first time in her life and sneaks out of her mansion by climbing down her balcony using only a quilt. Even after she is locked into her room again, she only continues to try and escape by desperately trying to pry her door open using a fireplace poker. Although she briefly falls into inactive despair once she's forced to marry Barkis, she does not get scared of him when he angrily grabs her and accuses her of lying about her parents not having any money. His behavior quickly makes her deduce that he was only after her nonexistent money; in response, she angrily and sarcastically tells him off and shoves him, which makes him let go of her, then she walks away from him and out of her home. Even when he tries to abduct her from the church at the end, she struggles and tries to get away, seizing the first chance she gets to flee from his grip.

**Plot Summary**

In a European village set in the Victorian period, Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot are preparing for their arranged marriage. The marriage will raise the social class of the Van Dorts, who are nouveau riche fish merchants, and restore the wealth of the Everglots, who are bankrupt aristocrats. Both Victor and Victoria have concerns about marrying someone they have never met, but they are granted a chance to meet before their wedding rehearsal and quickly fall in love with each other. However, being a shy, clumsy, and nervous man, Victor ruins the rehearsal by continuously forgetting the vows and knowing what to do for each one. The cold and intimidating Pastor Galswells banishes Victor and demands that he learn his vows. Victor flees to the nearby woods and desperately practices. Reminding himself to do it for Victoria, he finally conquers his nerves (after making several past mistakes) and says the vows perfectly, finishing by putting the wedding ring on a tree root sticking out of the ground.

The root turns out to be the finger of a dead young woman who emerges from beneath the ground, wearing a tattered wedding dress and veil and assuming that Victor has married her. At the town bridge, she spirits him away with her to the festive Land of the Dead. There in the Ball & Socket Pub, Victor learns the story of how the Corpse Bride fell in love with a man years ago, who then murdered her on the night of their elopement and stole her dowry. After her death, the Corpse Bride vowed to wait for her true love to come and set her free by asking for her hand in marriage – something she believes has happened with Victor. Back in the Land of the Living, the Van Dorts and the Everglots learn that Victor was seen on the bridge with another woman and disappeared with her. Although outraged, the Everglots give the Van Dorts until dawn to find Victor. At the same time in the Land of the Dead, Victor tries to leave, but is found again by the Corpse Bride, who reveals that her name is Emily and she reunites him with his dead dog, Scraps, as a wedding present. This makes him start to warm to Emily, but he also wants to reunite with Victoria. He tricks Emily into taking him back to the Land of the Living by saying he wants her to meet his parents, so Elder Gutknecht, the kind ruler of the underworld, temporarily sends them there.

Once back home, Victor asks Emily to wait in the forest while he rushes back to town. At the Everglot mansion, he climbs up to Victoria's room, where she welcomes him and he confesses his desire to marry her as soon as possible, to which she gladly returns his feelings. Just before they can kiss, Emily arrives on Victoria's balcony, wanting to find Victor and figure out why he has been taking so long. Once she and Victoria spot each other, Emily catches wind of what Victor really wanted to do, so she angrily drags Victor back to the Land of the Dead with her. After Victor and Emily disappear, Victoria tells her parents that Victor has been forcibly married to a corpse, but they believe that she has lost her mind and lock her up in her bedroom. She escapes her room by her balcony and rushes to the church to see Galswells and find a way of helping Victor. Galswells also believes that Victoria is speaking nonsense and drags her back home. With Victor gone, the Everglots marry Victoria off to a seemingly wealthy stranger named Lord Barkis Bittern, who appeared at the wedding rehearsal, despite Victoria's protests. But unbeknownst to any of them, Barkis only wants to marry Victoria in order to get at her family's money (which he mistakenly believes is still available) and plans to kill her.

Emily is heartbroken over Victor's deception and believes that Victor prefers Victoria over her just because Victoria is alive. In the pub, as Emily sadly plays the piano, Victor comes to her and apologizes for lying to her. The two reconcile as they play a duet together. Shortly after, Victor's family coachman Mayhew appears in the afterlife (having recently died) and informs Victor of Victoria's impending marriage to Barkis. At the same time, Emily learns from Elder Gutknecht that her supposed marriage to Victor was never valid: since marriage vows bind a couple only until "death do you part," Emily being dead already parts them. In order for them to have a valid marriage, Victor must repeat his vows in the Land of the Living and willingly drink poisoned wine – thus joining her in death. Emily is horrified that Victor would have to make such a sacrifice, but Victor, having overheard everything and feeling heartbroken over losing Victoria, agrees to die for Emily. He gathers all of the other dead and tells them to prepare for the wedding party that they are moving "upstairs."

As Victoria and Barkis have their wedding reception in the Everglot mansion, the dead arrive and frighten all of the guests away. Following the confusion, Barkis demands that Victoria take whatever money she can before they leave. Victoria reveals to Barkis that her parents are broke and that her marriage to him was supposed to provide them with money. She leaves the mansion after fighting with Barkis and realizing his true intentions, then notices that the village citizens have recognized their loved ones among the dead and follows them all to the church. At the church, Victor and Emily begin saying their vows, but Emily notices Victoria hiding behind a pillar and realizes that she is denying Victoria her chance at happiness the same way it was stolen from her. She stops Victor from drinking the poison and reunites him with Victoria, giving her blessing to their love. Barkis interrupts them, and Emily recognizes him as her former fiancé and murderer. Barkis tries to kidnap Victoria at sword point, but Victor stops him and the two men duel. Emily saves Victor by taking a sword blow meant for him from Barkis, who then mockingly proposes a toast to Emily. He toasts with the cup of poisoned wine, then dies shortly after he drinks it. The dead (who are now able to intercede as they couldn't when Barkis was alive) drag Barkis away for punishment.

Victor and Victoria are happy to be reunited and free of Barkis, but Victor feels that he must keep his promise to Emily. Emily tells him that he has indeed set her free, so she returns the favor by giving him back his ring and freeing him of his vow to marry her. She walks to the doors of the church, tosses her wedding bouquet to Victoria, then steps into the moonlight and transforms into hundreds of butterflies that fly towards sky, while Victor and Victoria look on wrapped in each other's embrace.

**VictorxVictoria vs. VictorxEmily**

So to me, what is interesting with this film is how the lead male character does not end up with the lead female character, and that more fans seem to prefer the non-canonical pairing. For me, I really do love Emily's character and there are moments in the film that make me like Victor and Emily as a pairing. However, I honestly see more reasons as to why Victor belongs with Victoria and not Emily. For starters, Victor and Victoria can relate to each other very well in terms of their respective upbringings. They both come from wealthy families (formerly for Victoria, however) in which they were neglected or mistreated by their parents who never or rarely gave them the love they deserved, as parents should to their children. The Van Dorts and Everglots did not care about the well-being or happiness of their respective children and were only using the marriage for their own selfish reasons (again, Victoria more so than Victor). Because of this, both Victor and Victoria grew up feeling shy, timid, and alone without ever having a true friend or confidant. Though Victor had Scraps and Victoria had Hildegarde, what I mean is, I believe that, when they were children, they never or rarely interacted with other children nor had a friend of their age, especially one to whom they could truly relate. Even more so, Victor and Victoria both seem to act out as obedient children, never or rarely speaking or standing up to their parents about their concerns, and just going along with what is expected of them regardless, possibly out of fear of being reprimanded or punished if they defied their parents. When it comes to hobbies, we do see a little more development of those with Victor, regarding how artistic he is with his piano playing and drawing. But even Victoria appears to be artistic herself when she is later seen sewing a big quilt that has a great deal of stitching in it.

While some may still view Victor and Victoria's love for each other as instant and that they wouldn't work, I feel that they have a very good chance even with the few differences I see between them. They both may be shy, but that doesn't mean that they would be that way forever and never actually communicate with each other. Victoria is very kind and gentle, completely unlike her parents, and most likely grew up to be so because Hildegarde acted as a true and loving mother figure for her. When they first meet, Victoria shows Victor true kindness when she compliments his piano playing. Then during the wedding rehearsal scene, we can see some hints of compatibility between them by showing Victoria as being the backbone that Victor needs. She was the only one who really cared that Victor was very nervous after he made so many mistakes and was trying to getting through the rehearsal right. Although it was somewhat understanding for Galswells and their parents to get mad and impatient with him after doing this for three hours since they wanted to just have the rehearsal performed perfectly and get the wedding done, Victoria was the only one who showed sympathy and concern for him. She did not get mad or impatient with him at all; quite the contrary, she was much more calm and patient, and even kindly lit his candle for him when he could not do it with the big candle. Even after he leaves, she is only concerned that he'll be all right and return in time for their wedding. So this entire scene really shows me that Victoria can definitely be very patient, calm, and understanding with Victor, even when he is a nervous wreck and makes so many blunders, especially since no one else seems to be that way with him. She is the only person who can help him develop the confidence and courage he needs to learn and have to be able to stand up for himself.

Also, when they first meet, Victor shows Victoria kindness, respect, and acceptance when she confesses her childhood dream of marriage to him, along with her subtle desire to learn to play the piano. Since Victoria is a woman, she lives a more repressed life than Victor because women in society during that general time period were virtually meant to be seen and not heard. Because of this, more people, especially men, would only scoff at or discourage what dreams or ambitions she would have, rather than encourage them. But if anything, Victor seems far from being like men who could or would be very sexist towards women and agree with those who say what women should and should not do. As long as Victoria can help Victor learn to be more confident in himself, he can become more encouraging to her in what dreams she has or what new things she would like to try. One thing that I'm sure that he could do is teach her how to play the piano, and their strengths to each other could develop well even for something like this. Victoria's patience could give Victor the confidence to be a good teacher, and he could also be patient and encouraging with her in helping her get better at it. By being at each other's sides during the best and worst of times, Victor and Victoria really would be able to grow out of their shyness and learn to believe in themselves, making them grow and develop into stronger people than they were when they first met. Without a doubt, they even began to become like that after they met and did their actions out of love for the other person: Victoria bravely climbed out of her window and down her balcony using only a quilt, then later stood up to Barkis after discovering his true intentions, and Victor stood up to Barkis unarmed when the latter tried to kidnap Victoria at swordpoint, then managed to get him a few times with the fork that was given to him.

When it comes to Victor and Emily, we definitely see more of a development in their relationship than his with Victoria. I feel that he started out feeling afraid of Emily and ended up becoming fond of her, all while still loving Victoria more. Although he is somewhat confused and upset with his sudden "marriage," he still tries to be kind to Emily when he tells her how he was sorry about what happened to her. Her subsequent gesture of reuniting him with Scraps told him that she really is a sweet, kind, and loving person. When Victor takes her back to the woods so he can return to Victoria, he appears entranced by her dancing and seems somewhat guilty for tricking her. After Emily drags him back to the Land of the Dead, he again appears guilty for lying to her and tries to explain to her why they can't be together, ultimately blurting out that he would never marry her. Then the expression he wears after he says that and as he watches her walk away clearly shows that he regrets what he said. It is obvious that Victor was just becoming frustrated in how she still didn't understand that he didn't actually propose to her that he said those words without thinking. He didn't want to make her even more upset and tried to find a way to break it to her kindly, but failed. Victor later finds Emily playing the piano and apologizes to her for his deceit. As she keeps playing sad notes, he starts playing happier notes, as if he is trying to cheer her up and asking for forgiveness. Although she initially ignores him and his ensuing playing, she finally joins him in a duet with their notes forming a perfect harmony. Even after her skeleton hand snaps off and walks across the piano and up his shoulders, she apologizes for her enthusiasm, but he is not at all repulsed and tells her that he likes her enthusiasm as he reattaches it. They briefly hold hands and look into each other's eyes before an interruption occurs. (On the side, the piano duet is my favorite moment in the entire film. The music was used perfectly to express their feelings and emotions without any words, most especially when Emily finally joined Victor and their notes together sounded so beautiful.)

So from the above paragraph, we see that Emily and Victor do have some tender moments together. They are also similar to each other because Emily comes from a wealthy family like Victor, they are both talented pianists, and are, overall, very good and decent people. However, I do not pair them as a couple because circumstances between them make a huge difference, partly because Emily is dead, but it's not my sole reason. The two of them have more differences than similarities that don't convince me as making them be a very compatible couple, and those differences could eventually split them apart whether Emily would be alive or dead. Emily is much more lively and passionate, and enjoys singing and dancing. Since Victor is much more shy and quiet, he apparently does not enjoy these same activities. Also, because she is so lively and plays her emotions to extremes, Emily does not strike me as being very patient or calm with Victor in the way that Victoria could be, especially whenever Victor would become timid and shy. Likewise, she would probably not be so understanding of this kind of behavior of his depending on the circumstances, also unlike Victoria. As an example in the film, when Emily first meets Victoria, Victoria was willing to give Victor a chance to explain, but Emily quickly and angrily dragged Victor back to the Land of the Dead and accused him of cheating on her while still clearly not understanding that Victor didn't actually ask her to marry him. Although I do not think she is stupid, I do see Emily as being naïve and not always too bright because of the above mentioned situations, along with how she trusts and believes too quickly and too easily. This makes her a little too optimistic and not very realistic. The most important example of Emily's naïveté, and even how she appears to lack a common sense, is how she quickly fell in love with and trusted Barkis and decided to marry him, even though they barely knew each other. Ultimately, the price she paid due to her trust and belief in him was her own life.

**One Groom, Two Brides ****–**** Which One to Choose?**

By the time of the scene in which Victor learns that Victoria has married Barkis and that Emily learns that she isn't truly married to Victor, it is clear that Victor is already very fond of Emily because of how kind, beautiful, passionate, and sweet she is. I think he loves her for those qualities, but he is not truly in love with her because her qualities do not complement his own. I also don't believe he loved Emily more than Victoria when he chose to die to marry Emily. I feel that he decided to go through with marrying her for a couple of reasons, with the main one being that he was heartbroken that lost his chance with Victoria and felt he had nothing left to live for up in the world above, since the only person he ever truly loved and who loved him was taken. But the other reason I believe is that he still wanted to find love, so he decided to go with Emily, the woman who loved him in the Land of the Dead. Because he was very fond of Emily, he decided to fulfill a purpose by making Emily's dream come true at last. Even though he still loved Victoria more, he cared about Emily enough to do this for her. (This is particularly evident when he takes her hand and holds it in both of his as he helps her stand up and says, "I do" as he looks into her eyes and smiles at her.) If he hadn't cared about her at all, he would have just run away altogether. And when he offered to do it, he decided to because he saw her selflessness when she declared that she couldn't ask Victor to do this. But what helps more to support that Victor still loved Victoria even when he made the decision was that he made it only after he found out that Victoria was going to marry Barkis, not before. If he had not heard about this, I doubt that he would have still decided to marry Emily. People may argue that he would willingly die for Emily, but I believe that he couldn't live without Victoria, and just wouldn't have known what else to do otherwise. If one thinks about it carefully, if they had stayed together, they wouldn't have a good existence, even in death, because all they would be doing is slowly decomposing. A time would eventually come where they would get tired and bored with their situation. They would never truly be happy because they wouldn't be able to do what many couples typically do, such as having children and forming families, and basically living life to the fullest.

When it comes to focusing on Emily solely in the film, I believe that her feelings for Victor gradually developed into love as time passed. When she first appeared in the film, I think she took a liking to Victor, but she didn't love him. It is clear that what she loved was her belief of finally having a second chance of finding love and living her dream of being married at last after it was previously stolen from her. But as time went on and she and Victor spent more time together and she got to know him, she started to genuinely fall in love with him. I also think that his deception crushed her because, not only did she think she was his wife, but she had trusted him when he said that he would come back, and her finding out that he lied to her showed that he betrayed that trust. This was even a repeat from when she was alive because she had trusted Barkis, the last man she had loved, which is what cost her her own life. It's possible that this was another reason on why she was so depressed for a while afterwards. Then when she discovers that she and Victor aren't actually married, she is horrified and determined to keep him with her. This moment may give the impression that she was being selfish and possessive with Victor and that she still didn't love him. It even appeared that way when she dragged him back to the Land of the Dead with her against his will, then angrily refused to believe his claims that she was the "other woman" and not Victoria. But then when she learns that Victor would have to join her in death for them to be properly married, she is even more horrified and realizes that it's not fair to ask him to end his life just so they could be together. Part of why she refuses to ask him is because she already knows it would be wrong, especially she knows that he already loves Victoria, but it also does show her selflessness and growing love for him. While she does become overjoyed when he decides to do it after all, she realizes that she can't go through with it after she spots Victoria in the church. She stops Victor from drinking the poison not because she doesn't love him, but because she does love him. It hurts her to give up her dream, but she knows that Victor truly loves Victoria, so she decides what is more important to her and sacrifices her happiness for his own, which shows that she truly loves him. (In my opinion, her sacrifice for Victor's happiness over her own is a bigger sacrifice than the one he had to make in order to properly marry her.) She also knows having Victor kill himself would only ruin Victoria's chance at happiness just like hers was, and that going through this marriage would not undo what happened to her (Emily). Most of all, more than the circumstances that led to Victor deciding to go through with the marriage, if he truly loved Emily more than Victoria by this point, he would have insisted on staying with her. (The look he wore as Emily came walking to the church was one of awe, showing that he still had a growing fondness for her.) But he didn't object when Emily joined his hand with Victoria's; on the contrary, he smiled, so he was happy to be back with Victoria and was grateful to Emily for doing this, as was Victoria.

This sacrifice was really beneficial for all three of them, because if the marriage had taken place, they all would have quickly become miserable. For Victoria, she would have been devastated about losing Victor, but if matters were made worse, Barkis would very likely have killed her in his rage. Victoria would then have gone to the Land of the Dead, and Emily and Victor would be there. She surely would have seen them, and Emily would definitely feel largely responsible for what happened to Victor and Victoria and for ruining their chance at happiness. With or without Victoria around, there is a chance that Victor may have really grown to love Emily, especially if Victoria had managed to elude Barkis and married someone else. But since Victoria was his first love, he would never have forgotten her, and the same would go for her. Moreover, Victor would very likely later regret marrying Emily at some point because he'd realize that he and Emily wouldn't have so much in common, not to mention he wouldn't be enjoying his so-called "existence" by forever being trapped in time as a decaying corpse and not being able to do things with her that living couples typically do. In all, going through with the marriage would have been wrong and none of them would ever truly be free from it. One of the best moves made in Emily's decision was that her actions led Victor to interfere to save Victoria before she could be killed, then Emily intervened to save Victor before Barkis could kill him after their duel. All of these actions ultimately lead Barkis to drinking the poison and accidentally killing himself. Barkis's death saved Victoria from suffering the same fate as Emily, it freed her from their marriage, which enabled her and Victor to be together at last, and it allowed Emily's murder to be avenged, which truly set her free at last.

**The Underworld and the Ending ****–**** What Does it Mean?**

From the moment when we see Victor in the Land of the Dead, viewers can see just how different it is from the Land of the Living regarding the atmosphere and the people in it. Despite their names, one can see how they are the exact antithesis of each other by their representations, especially with the usage of color. The Land of the Dead is first seen when Victor enters it, and the same applies at the beginning of the film when he makes his first appearance. The village in which Victor and Victoria live is a very strict, repressed, and depressing society where almost everyone is cold, unkind, and unfriendly. This is illustrated by showing that almost any and all color is virtually dulled out by large hints of gray. So while the people in this world are literally alive, they are dead in spirit. But then in the underworld, there is a lot more exuberance and liveliness, which is demonstrated by everyone there, and all the people seen are so much more kind, caring, and friendly. So then in this world, everyone is literally dead, but far more alive in spirit. While Victor is initially frightened and somewhat repulsed by what he sees in the underworld, he eventually grows somewhat used to it as he spends more time with Emily there, especially because of how everyone he meets is so nice to him, unlike back home. But despite all that happens during his time in the underworld, he prefers to stay in the world above because Victoria is the only person there for whom he truly cares and who cares for him, and he would rather live out his life with her and die when he is ready rather than end his life early and stay in the underworld. He only changes his mind when he learns that Victoria has married another and decides to dedicate himself to Emily, though everything works out in the end. (One of my favorite stories called "The Deleted Scene" by Lost in Day Dreams describes Victor's thoughts about Emily and Victoria after he decides to marry Emily, which I think is done very well.)

Based on what we see happens to Emily in the end, it gives an interpretation of just what kind of place the Land of the Dead really is. Although it is where people go once they die, it later comes off as more of a place where people temporarily go when they die, and they maintain the forms of their dead bodies (which gradually decompose) until they complete unfinished business. Whatever their business is, once they finally complete it, they are set free by taking on the form of some ethereal element and their souls move on to heaven. For Emily, her unfinished business came about when she stopped Victor from drinking the poison and reunited him with Victoria. By then, she finally accepted her fate of how her chance of being a bride had come and gone, then she was set free by having her murder avenged when Barkis died. As she steps out of the church doors, Emily sheds her decaying body as she turns into the butterflies, which fly up towards the sky, and there is a stream of bright light shining down as she does. All of this helps to implicate that her spirit lives on in the butterflies and that she finally ascends to heaven. Because she is finally freed from her painful past, she takes the form of butterflies, which are meant symbolize this freedom. With her murder avenged, Emily is able to find peace at last, so she moves on to heaven where she will now and forever have eternal rest. This is another great example on why she made the right decision about not marrying Victor. Given that Victoria could have been killed by Barkis as well, all three of them would have been trapped in the underworld forever and never truly be set free.

The sources that help me to believe that the underworld really is a temporary place for the dead are a few stories written by one of my favorite authors on FanFiction, D. M. Robb. She has written several stories that give potential information on certain characters' backstories and some things that weren't fully covered in the film. One of these is "Emily's Story" and its companion "Barkis," in which she actually plays out Emily and Barkis's stories from when they first meet to what exactly happens to Emily after she dies (including right before she meets Victor). I really liked how when she meets Elder Gutknecht, he is the one who tells her the truth about the underworld, in that it is only a temporary place for the dead where people stay until they complete unfinished business. The exact lines she wrote for him to say, which I really love and I think make complete sense, are "Eventually most, who are here to take care of unfinished business, are set free. Some take longer than others. They become part of nature by transforming into ethereal elements such as the wind, clouds, mist, butterflies, dew, moonlight…they become the essence of the Earth and can be anything, anywhere. It is the greatest of freedoms and, in a sense, heaven." Another story, "Transformation," acts as a reflection of Emily's thoughts in the final moments of the film, and she is shown to be remembering the last couple of sentences of Elder Gutknecht's aforementioned words as she transforms.

**Film Aftermaths and Conclusion**

The film ends with Victor and Victoria looking up towards the sky as all of the butterflies fly up in that direction. While Emily has been set free and Victor and Victoria are free to be together at last, there do seem to be a few loose ends left with the ending. These include what happens with both sets of parents and how soon Victor and Victoria could marry now, if at all, because she is a widow. In the film, the Everglots are last seen running to hide in their room due to the chaos of the dead appearing and the Van Dorts are last seen still looking for Victor in their carriage, but not apparently knowing that Mayhew drops dead on them. D. M. Robb has a couple other stories that seem to help tie up these loose ends perfectly. "Reflections" shows each of Victor and Victoria's individual thoughts upon returning to their homes and reuniting with their parents. Then the last chapter features the couple a year later, now married and expecting their first child, and Victoria expressing her desire to name the baby Emily if it is a girl, with Victor agreeing to the idea. (The Everglots subsequently allowed the couple to wed because they were so shaken up from the events of the dead appearing and so desperate to stay out of the poorhouse.) The events of this story make so much sense to me as well, particularly with the Everglots. I bet they would be very shocked upon learning that Barkis was truly just as poor as they were, and I also agree that they would let Victor and Victoria marry as soon as possible because they would be so desperate to stay out of the poorhouse. I get the impression that no outsiders but the Van Dorts know that the Everglots are bankrupt, despite their aristocratic titles, and that their reputations would be destroyed if other outsiders knew about that, so they'd let Victoria marry Victor as quickly as possible to avoid being sent to the poorhouse before other people would discover that.

I also agree wholeheartedly about Victoria's choice to name their baby Emily if she and Victor had a daughter. Now that Victor and Victoria would be able to stay together, they would get to know each other well, love each other more and more over time, have children, grandchildren, and basically be able to expand their family. They would have a future and wonderful life to share together, and truly live happily ever after. After the moving sacrifice Emily made in allowing the couple to be together at last, especially with helping them be rid of Barkis for good, I am sure that they will be eternally grateful to Emily for her generosity. If they could, I'm sure that they would want to honor in memory for this, and if and whenever they had a daughter, what better way to repay Emily than giving their daughter her name? In the first chapter of "Reflections," Victoria even thinks to herself, thanking Emily and promising to honor her memory, and in the third and final chapter, she tells Victor this by sharing her wish to name the baby Emily. Another story called "The Exchange" acts as a perfect potential sequel for the film. In it, Victor and Victoria indeed had a daughter first and named her Emily after the Corpse Bride. It is also written that she acts as the guardian to Emily in the form of butterflies and speaks to her through them whenever she is sad or troubled. I especially love this idea of Emily being featured as the butterflies because it appears much more true to the film as opposed to other writers making her continue her death as the Corpse Bride in the underworld. In all, Emily's sacrifice really was the best move for everyone. I do feel that the ending is bittersweet rather than completely happy because it's sad that Emily never got to have her dream of being married. There is no doubt in my mind that she loved Victor and always would, but she also knew that Victoria would love enough for both of them. She goes to heaven where she finds peace at last and does the right thing by letting Victor and Victoria be together, so the film ended the way it was meant to end.

This concludes the entire essay on why I support VictorxVictoria while also loving Emily, my interpretations of characters in particular scenes, especially the ending when Emily transforms, and my specific thoughts on just what could happen to Victor and Victoria once they are finally together. Have a good day and thank you all to my friends who are also fans of this film and pairing, and especially to you, Cristina! I really hope you enjoyed this essay! :D


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